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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30038433">anywhere with you (is where i want to be)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasing_daybreak/pseuds/chasing_daybreak'>chasing_daybreak</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mentioned Miklan (Fire Emblem), Mentioned Sylvain Jose Gautier, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash, crestless glenn, crestless holst, glenn is angry and holst is gay, they're both invited to garreg mach as instructors</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:08:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,468</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30038433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasing_daybreak/pseuds/chasing_daybreak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>glenn is mad about something. holst goes find him, as always.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Glenn Fraldarius/Holst Goneril</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Glenn Week</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>anywhere with you (is where i want to be)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Glenn is hacking away at the training dummy like he was on the hunt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Holst has seen this sight many times before, of course. The younger knight is nothing if not diligent, which honestly has earned more of his respect than Glenn’s natural talent with a sword. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>But what’s new on this particular day is the <em> look </em> in Glenn’s eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Glenn is temperamental, his sharp tongue wielding words like a weapon, always trying to pick a fight with anyone remotely interested or strong enough. But he is not the sort to look so terribly shaken. In the throes of battle, the man has always seemed calm - like the eye of a storm. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Holst wanders to the spot next to the dummy carefully. Glenn pauses in his attempt to murder the strawman, icy blue eyes flickering to address Holst wordlessly before continuing. His curls stick to his forehead, slick with sweat. He has been here for hours. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s a little dangerous to stand this close to him when Glenn has an iron sword in hand, but never let it be said that Holst doesn’t like his calculated risks. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So,” he begins casually once Glenn’s arm starts to slow in its administrations. “Care to tell your dear friend Holst what’s gotten into you?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They just returned to the monastery the day before for their annual training course. Holst had hoped to see his fellow instructor and friend as soon as they arrived, but Glenn has been distant and prickly (well, more so than usual) from the moment they met again. Which really shouldn’t worry Holst as much as it does, but he cannot help his own bleeding heart.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Glenn stops at the question, which is a win for him because once Glenn <em> does </em>pay attention, it does not go away until any potential issue is solved. The knight lowers his sword, brings a gloved hand up to wipe his forehead and tuck a stray lock of midnight hair behind his ear, then directs his gaze at Holst in that blunt manner of his.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What do you want.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Just a chat, Glenn! You’ve been tense all day. Come on, I know you want to tell me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For a brief moment, Glenn’s unrelenting stare wavers. He has always been more honest with his expressions than his words, and Holst is more perceptive than he lets himself show.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Glenn rakes a hand through his hair, clearly agitated and likely not knowing what he should tell Holst and what he shouldn’t, but he eventually sets the sword back into the rack and walks briskly towards one of the benches, which is as much an open invitation as anything. Holst follows him, of course. He may be a commander on the battlefield, but Glenn is also a natural leader with undeniable charisma.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They sit side by side on the bench, watching the night sky above. Glenn hasn’t so much as uttered a single word, but his uncharacteristic silence is telling enough. Whatever the problem is, it may be much more serious than Holst expected when he walked in here.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“... Do you remember Miklan?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> Ah. </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miklan Anschutz Gautier. First born son of the Margrave Gautier, one of the top ranking Faerghus nobles - and the bane of Glenn’s existence. How can Holst forget? He has heard enough rumors to know that the guy is a troublemaker. Well, Holst is kind of a troublemaker if he does say so himself at times, but at least he isn’t downright malicious.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What did he do this time?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He pushed his little brother down an abandoned well in Gautier. In the middle of winter.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Oh, shit. Holst was prepared, alright, but he wasn’t prepared for <em> that</em>. Glenn’s former friendship and subsequent feud with Miklan are no longer anything new to him, but Holst has never been told exactly why they fell out of touch.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s majorly fucked up, man.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Don’t I know it,” Glenn snaps. Well, there is that infamous temper. Very familiar territory to Holst by now when it comes to the swordsman. “He’s become <em> such </em> a bully. But his father is even worse. The Margrave had the nerve to declare the entire thing as an accident. A bloody <em> accident</em>, Holst! I fished Sylvain out of that Goddess forsaken well myself and all his father said was a <em> thank you for your service</em>. Like I was one of his men. I didn’t need the thanks, I just needed the man to protect his own damn son for once and he <em> couldn’t even fucking do it. </em>I’m not even sure if he wants to!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When Glenn gets especially angry, he starts to curse and become much more animated in his gestures. Holst has had to dodge enough hands flying at his face to know what he should do. He scoots just a little further away to give Glenn space for the rant. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That aside, Holst is more than a little disturbed by the new piece of information. All three of them are Crestless, with little brothers and sister who actually possess the damn thing, but only Miklan turned out like this. No wonder Glenn is so frustrated all the time. Holst cannot fathom wanting to kill his own sibling over anything in the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Glenn is breathing a little funny, though. He isn’t gesturing wildly at the air anymore. His hands have lowered down onto his lap, curling into fists. He isn’t looking at Holst. The general doubts his friend is even seeing the training grounds in front of them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey,” he sets a large hand on Glenn’s shoulder, hoping to bring him back from whatever horrible memory he’s reliving. “It wasn’t your fault.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I know,” croaks Glenn, a little brokenly, and oh, Holst knows what this is about now. “But nobody else is doing what they should. Even my father couldn’t stop this from happening. It isn’t just. It isn’t <em> right</em>.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They lapse into a long silence as Glenn heaves heavy breaths, his entire frame trembling with rage under Holst’s grip. Rage - and something else, too. Something Holst has seen a lot in him, even though the Fraldarius heir himself and many others around them seem oblivious to it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Empathy.</p>
<p>  </p>
<p>Glenn buries his kindness underneath layers of aggression, just like Holst buries his own occasional distress underneath his smile. They are startlingly similar in this regard, Holst thinks, even if it isn’t very clear at first sight when you look at the both of them together. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It is that very kindness that renders Glenn so upset at his own powerlessness. It is that very kindness that makes him one of the most honorable people Holst has ever met in his life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“One day,” Glenn’s eyes under the candlelight are bright and determined, molten fire inside cages of ice, and Holst’s traitorous heart decides to skip a beat at the sheer wonder of it. “One day, I will make things right.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Never doubted it for a second, my friend,” Holst laughs and claps lightly on Glenn’s back, which earns him a half-hearted glare before the corner of Glenn’s lips quirks up in a small, endearing smirk. Ah, sweet victories. “If there’s anyone who can do it, it’s you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Believe in me that much, do you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m offended, Glenn. Why else do you think I’m fraternizing with a sarcastic, bad-tempered genius?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, fuck off.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Never.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Glenn shoves at him with a pointy shoulder, which really doesn’t amount to much because Holst is damn well <em> ripped</em>, thank you. But Glenn is also smiling when he does it, so even if Holst had sustained a permanent injury from that one push alone, it would have been worth it, anyway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Goddess help him. He’s in way too deep. But how could he not be when Glenn is the most brilliant and beautiful thing Holst has ever laid his eyes on?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps it isn’t the smartest thing to do. They both have lofty obligations to attend to, with miles and miles of distance between their home turfs. Glenn will be serving by the Faerghus King’s side, while Holst will be holding his fort at Fodlan’s Locket. They are soldiers first before they are men, and he knows Glenn well enough to realize the knight would sooner die than abandon his duty.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But for now - at this moment, they are friends who just reunited after almost a year apart, and they still have another month free from their usual business. And Holst is maybe just a little stupidly in love with this impossibly pretty creature who crash landed into his life last winter with the force of a meteor strike. And from the rare softness in the way Glenn looks at him sometimes when he thinks Holst isn’t paying attention, maybe Holst isn’t the only one nursing these ill-advised affections after all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everything else can wait. </p>
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